


Between Storms

by JunHiroki (xPrinceElix)



Series: Stormy Relationships [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, domestic AU, slight divergence from canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 15:11:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4671302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xPrinceElix/pseuds/JunHiroki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The years the village lost Lee</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Storms

**Author's Note:**

> Not really a stand alone fic, it's best if you read "Before and After the Storm" first

When she had lain dying, he knew he would die as well. 

He had carried her on his back to the village, running faster then he thought possible, leaving the team behind. There was no thought in his mind when he left her at the hospital and rushed to find Tsunade. 

His face was basically touching the ground as he begged her to try and save her.  
The entire night he had stood beside Tsunade as she worked, slowly repairing the many wounds littering Masao’s body. She was barely breathing, holding if on only for the promise she had whispered to him in the forest. 

When her eyelids fluttered open after eight full hours of healing, he cried for the first time. She smiled, but was too weak to even lift her fingers. “Hokage-sama, please destroy my chakra system. I don’t need the kekkei genkai.” 

Tsunade was able to sever the remnants of Masao’s chakra pathways, and for the first time, Lee saw Masao’s face truly relax. Not being able to utilize any chakra would prevent her from ever transforming again.

Lee did not leave the hidden room within the hospital for three days, remaining with Masao as she fought to live. Healing could only do so much, everything else relied on Masao’s sheer will power. 

But she survived. She began recovering. 

Lee had carried her on his back to the home she had whispered to him many months ago. It stood alone, a little way off from a tiny town, a tiny house with pale blue windows and gentle cream walls. When he brought her inside and laid her on the bed she had known years ago, she had already begun healing faster. 

He stayed for about four weeks, to care for her and fix the disrepair the house had began to succumb to. Two weeks and she had begun slowly standing and helping him cook. She had a permanent limp to her right leg, but other then that she seemed to be able to recover fully. 

It was with the heaviest heart he had left her to return to Konoha. She was now self sufficient and could survive until he could see her again. The first time he left he cried for a second time. 

He kissed her cheeks gently; the cheeks that once were marked with red whiskers, the same that were now unmarked and free of the jutsu that had haunted her. 

Lee couldn’t help but avoid his peers. Every single part of him wanted to tell them not to mourn her, that she was alive and doing well, but no one could know of her. It was only safe for her in the death that Tsunade had so generously helped him create for her. 

Naruto had mourned her almost as much as he had. It was only around Naruto that Lee could express his own sorrow and fear that he had felt in that time he almost lost her.

TenTen, his closest friend had tried to comfort him, but he could not bear to lie to all of them. He even avoided Guy. It pained him deeply to shun his master like that, and he knew it hurt Guy even more.

It relieved him when Guy knew to leave him space, that eventually he would be able to interact with everyone normally. 

Tsunade let him take missions alone now, mostly just B-ranks that took him out of the country to do easy tasks. He would get to see the world that Masao was now never going to be able to see. 

He collected paintings, books, and interesting seeds from the lands he visited, and spent several days after every mission to bring them back to her. 

The little house she was living in became more of a home to him as he returned as often as possible to see her. She was making attempts to grow every single seed he brought back for her. And hanging the various paintings he had brought her. 

Even the bookshelf was no longer empty. The taijutsu scrolls he had brought to store here and the books he brought for her were stacked neatly. He noticed that she kept the things he left there organized neatly in her bedroom as if to encourage him to try and make himself at home. 

For a few days every few months he would get to see her, stay and be reminded that she existed. The happiness always trickled into deep sorrow whenever he left. It was easy with these feelings, to pretend to be in mourning when he returned the the village. 

The only thing that kept him in the village was his duty as a shinobi and his friends. But more and more he found himself being drawn away. His apartment growing more and more empty as he moved his things one by one to Masao’s little home in Tanigakure.

Naruto tried to confront him a few times, but always let it go as if understanding. 

This trend continued for years. Tsunade giving him missions that let him visit Masao, and then Kakashi continuing the pattern when he took the office. Kakashi distinctly told him not to tell him his reasoning, so that he wouldn’t be a risk and Lee felt extensive relief. 

Iruka and Kakashi had rivaled Guy in their accommodations for him. Trying to cheer him up with happy memories, and the feeling of family. 

But five years later, Lee’s true family lived outside the village. Masao had born him a son, and during her pregnancy he had spent more and more time with her. It was then he cried for the third time. He knew the others noticed his absence, but he’ been absent for years and could not bring himself to care. 

Lee’s hidden place was almost shattered that night he saw Naruto in the window. 

He had been aware someone might follow him, but he had taken every precaution. In his heart, he knew if anyone was going to be able to figure it out though, it was Naruto. The blonde shinobi sat at the dinner table with him and Masao. Shocked, but kind about it. He had taken Masao’s hand excitedly when he saw the thin gold band on her left hand. 

The secrecy breach was almost a relief though, when Naruto promised never to tell. Now he had someone he could talk to. He smiled when Naruto held his son excited. 

“Bushy brows, I think he’s going to be just like Masao, look at his eyes.” 

Lee looked down at the child, his eyes swirling between icy blue and brown. Masao’s face was hard with stress. She hadn’t wanted the baby to inherit her kekkei genkai. Lee caressed her shoulder, no one would find out about it.

Naruto went with him a few more times to visit Masao and his son. But the second Konoha shinobi visiting the house drew attention. This danger was avoidable for a few years, but eventually it followed him. 

Lee had taken a one man mission to stop a small group of thieves who were attacking farmer, they weren’t even shinobi and it had been an easy task. But what he hadn’t expected it to be was a front for a missing-nin to follow him to a “mysterious white haired woman with different colored eyes just like Jiraya’s daughter.” 

It was storming that night, and Lee had not heard the intruder over the sound of thunder. The blade sliced his shoulder as he rolled away. Masao could no longer use jutsu, and her limp preventing her from being as fast as she had been. Years without practice in ninja arts had also slightly dulled her reactions. 

Lee did his best to protect her, but this protection was getting him cut and hit with jutsu at every turn. 

The missing-nin had suddenly turned his attention to the doorway of the hall, and seeing the Lee’s son with his ever changing hair, knew he was correct in following. But Masao fought him desperately to prevent him from taking their son. Lee was too slow to stop the blade from piercing her chest. 

Lee killed the shinobi right after, splattering his blood across the wall. Lee turned to see his son covered in Masao’s blood, her body covering him on the ground, her last action trying to shield him. 

Masao was dead and for a second time Lee had to bury her. His son shook the entire time he packed up. He did his best to clean up that house, because he would have to return later to collect more of their things. 

The missing-nin was buried quickly in the forest, but Lee took the time to bury Masao in a deep grave to be fixed later. The storm was worsening and he had to get his son away. After putting as many of his things in his pack as possible, he wrapped his son in a thick cloak and ignoring the stinging of his injuries ran. 

At his fastest he could make it back to Konoha from the little border in six hours, he made it back in four. 

The rain was pelting him as he limped into the village and was relieved to see Iruka and Naruto rushing to help him. 

He woke up in the hospital, Naruto sitting next to his bed, and his son curled at his side. 

“Where is she,” Naruto asked quietly. 

“Masao…she…I… We were attacked and I couldn’t save her. She’s gone now.” 

Lee and his son moved into Lee’s old apartment, and got frequent visits from Guy. Guy proved an apt baby sitter, his son immediately taking to him. This allowed Lee the time to go back to the house and clean up the remnants of the fight and return the house to its original state. He left the paintings and Masao’s books as they were. Maybe someday their son would want to be reminded of the place he had spent the first four years of his life. 

He spent a day fixing Masao’s grave, placing a large stone behind it, and carving her information into it. “Lee Masao, a loving wife and mother.” He moved a few of her favorite plants to grow over her grave and then sent his prayers to her, crying for the fourth time. 

When he got back to the village, he left his scrolls hidden in the apartment. The one scroll he kept on him at all times would be the only thing Masao wanted their son to inherit from her line. The one jutsu she was never strong enough to learn.

After their son was promoted to genin, Lee took him to his mother’s grave. After they bowed and gave a quick prayer, their son stood proudly to tell his mother the skill she had left for him. It was with relief that their son was much more adept at chakra control then either of them.

“Mom, I can do it! The Storm Body Chakra Seal! I’ll keep practicing and I’ll become a strong shinobi like you and dad!” Lee’s heart swelled when his son the signature nice. He didn’t turn when he felt the ghost of a touch on his cheek. Masao had seen how far their son had come. 

Touching his fingertips to that spot, he placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. 

Together they bowed once more to Masao’s grave and began traveling back to Konoha. 

And for once his son could let go of his transformation. Lee looked down and smiled at his son’s white hair and red face whiskers. With a broad grin the boy grabbed his hand. 

Now they locked their eyes together, the same brown steadfast for their wish to make Masao proud and he cried for the last time. Around them a gentle rain began to fall. 

Hopefully they would be home before the storm.

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of me trying to explain Lee's son and then breaking his heart for a second time lmao bc I'm mean
> 
> But really I do love Lee
> 
> I fixed the formatting so this is more readable too lol I hope its better, I'll probably fix the other one later
> 
> I'm surprised at how quickly I managed to finish this


End file.
